Pop Rocks: 10 Things Comic Con 2011 Taught Us

The 2011 Comic Con wrapped up last weekend. Over 120,000 of the geeky, nerdy, attention starved, and Twilight-headed descended upon sunny San Diego last weekend for what has become the entertainment industry's premiere showcase for anything related to comics, video games, fantasy, sci-fi, and sparkly vampires.

First of all, I should point out I wasn't there. Yes, it's true I was in San Diego recently, but the only convention going on when my wife and I were there was for some company creating global positioning software for business and community planning. *snicker* What a waste of time.

Anyway, the coverage of Comic Con has been exhaustive enough over the last four days that I'm now officially qualified to analyze the innumerable panels, photo galleries, press releases, and overwhelming sense of self satisfaction felt by all concerned in order to highlight the truly important lessons.

I'm sure you can't wait.

It Barely Has Anything To Do With Comics
And hasn't for a very long time. Cowboys & Aliens, The Amazing Spider-Man and Tintin aside, San Diego's annual nerdfest drifts further and futher away from its four-color origins in the basement of the Grant Hotel. Hell, Marvel didn't even have a panel this year (in spite of Captain America premiering at the Con). And perhaps nothing demonstrated this thematic migration more in 2011 than the continued domination of the Twilight franchise and an honest-to-Journey Glee panel.

Holy Shit, They Really Made a Tintin Movie
When I heard Steven Spielberg's next directorial effort was to be a motion-capture adaptaion of the Belgian comic The Adventures of Tintin, I naturally assumed (like everyone else) it was April Fool's Day. Color me embarrassed; The Adventures of Tintin comes out Christmas, 2011. More than 350 million copies of the Hergé comics have been sold, but let's face it, those are mostly in Europe and the rest of the world, making Tintin the soccer of comic properties.

Kristen Stewart Will Not Go Away
It doesn't matter that every other movie not related to emo bloodsuckers Stewart has starred in (The Runaways, Adventureland) has underwhelmed at the box office, everyone's favorite dead-eyed ingenue will continue to get leading roles. Next up: Snow White and the Huntsman, co-starring Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen and Chris "Thor" Hemsworth as the Huntsman. And Stewart? She's playing Snow White.

An...armored Snow White.

Those dwarves better not try any fresh stuff.

And Neither Will Vampires
Sadly, we won't be getting a break after Breaking Dawn comes out. Next up, the Colin Farrell Fright Night remake and Underworld: Awakening, in which we see just how long Kate Beckinsdale can keep cramming herself into those leathers.

I've never been to Comic Con or Star Wars Celebration. My Mrs. offered either to me for my birthday next year but... A four-day pass is $135/person for SWC, for CC it's $150/person. Getting one of those passes can be an iffy prospect. Hotel (anywhere'd I want to stay) is likely to be another $150-200/night. On top of airfair for two it's a $1200 weekend to look like the oldest pervert in the room.

But then Joss Whedon and Karen Traviss was there (at CC) this year, so, I dunno. Anyone else have a take on this?